The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-04-01
An Indian Idol.

through tilt klfltiilt'SS Oh u lTitHi,
strange looking figure is ON our table to-
night. Ii represents a woman, seated,
her features are drawn as if i'll pain the
mouth is open, the arms are fixed CON
vulsivelv To- her side and the ewes are
closed The letter accompanying it gives
an account of trip To the deepest Willis
of the West and tramp to the borders
of the Pacific; we are assured that our
friend found people worshipping this
picture of sorrow and retails the particu
lars accompanying its passage int" the
possession of the distant comrade who
sends it across a continent To- us on the
shore of another ocean.
And its worshippers were perhaps
the real aborigines of America. If Don
nelly is right the original of this shape
sat in all the glory of ivory and silver to-
receive the homage of those who founded
the Empire of Atlantis; the first mer-
chants of earth invoked its protecting
influence: trading vessels to the utter
! most parts of the earth carried the mem
DRY of its pristine beauty with them in
the hearts of their crews-the round tow
ers of Ireland We're reared in its honor
| and il inspired reverence on the banks of
the Ganges.
When the first empire of the worlds
history was torn by earthquake and vol
cano and sank beneath the waves of the
| Atlantic, the fleeing inhabitants carried
their arts and sciences to distant lands
and the worship of a tutelary divinity
which lay in the depths of the SEA, was
celebrated in the original city of Troy,
became the Isis of Egypt's primeval civ
ilization and was depicted in tomb and
temple and pyramid. If the copper OF
the bronze age was obtained from the
mines of Lake Superior. as scientists as
sert, then our goddess was worshippe,
in America before the Deluge
| 1t has the long narrow head which
characteriZes the skulls of the mound
builders and connects these monuments
in America with similar ones from Nor
way to India. Columbus never knew
its worshippers, and the cruel Spaniard
| spared them when he subverted the en-
pire of the Aztecs. They had hewed
their towns from the living rock ana
there vet remain the wonderful defense>
reared for protection against the new
race which had driven them. step by
step, from power. Here their miserabl,
descendants Yet live, in the widest
depths of savage mountains which have
guarded them from the brave Nontezu
mas, the savage nomads in their neigh
borhood, and yet resist the curiosity ot
the more powerful people which hav,
succeeded all these.
Does the. image before us retain an,
memory of the time when it ruled ovel
the world and was kissed by devote,
lips and worshipped in fear and trem
bling by the most civilized race under tn,
sun: Or has il been humbled bv ii,
thousand years of that bitter experience
which Stays the pride of Those who -'hav'
seen better days. Or does il not lamen
the absence of adoring whispers, the LIP
of worshippers and clouds of incense:
Now here upon our table sits one VIII
was once the mother of the world. VIII
gave birth to the universe. was atfrightsv
when she saw "a comet among her chll
dren and possibly enshrlned one of TIN
spirits which drew away antediluvia
man from the worship of the true Coo
and brought ON our heads the wrath q
Heaven And here she sits a. a pape
weight representing To us only tn
thoughtful kindness Of IA valued frient
But if the Pueblos Indians are the d'
scendants of the Mound-builders and I'll
Mound builders were Atlantids, then th1
poor image represented To a faithful pee
pie the great statue which looked dow
ON the first of the worlds great capita
it saw the civilization which bmlde
the tower of Babel, taught job astror
omy and gave Egypt the learning
which Moses excelled. What a long lin
of hoary centuries is visible to the close
eyes of this sorrowful figure IF Moth,
Nature the. Creator,